I had a conversation with an IT guy at a tavern this late afternoon. The two of us were drinking some craftbeers and comparing notes on the stouts, porters, and red ales.

Turns out, he's an IT guy working for a company in San Diego. He commutes about 50 miles each way to work and back. He says the money is good, but the commute sucks.

I know all about it. I used to commute 60 miles to Orange County each way, for a software company. And I agree, the commute is what really kills you.

He asked me what I did for a living. I just said, "I do websites". And that's putting it very broadly. He assumed I designed websites for a living. But actually I don't. I'm an affiliate marketer, or more appropriately, an Internet Marketer, because I don't just rely on affiliate income.

So I went into the process of describing what I do specifically. And this guy seemed to understand. Yet, he seemed to understand that I'm not really a programmer, or designer, or an IT guy. I'm a marketer & publisher, which doesn't really have anything to do with IT.

And from his expression, I could tell he had summed me up and determined that I wasn't on his level of IT knowledge. And the truth is, I'm not.

But yet, I told him that I work for myself, I work from home, and I can do all my work at night if I need to. That leaves me free to do whatever I want during the day. And in my line of business, I don't have clients calling me at all hours of the day.

And what about his IT expertise that he has over me? Well, he has a boss breathing down his neck, he has to commute 50 miles each way, and all his hard work is going to benefit some other business owner.

So who's really in a better position?

Last summer, I wrote an article entitled, "The True Promise of Internet Marketing", where I summed up that I left my "real job" at the age of 38, and pursued this life as an Internet marketer. It's doesn't have the glamorous title that an "IT Director" has, but it gives me a quality of life that I wouldn't trade in for any other career.  ✓